Nicole Brown Simpson Children

Nicole Brown Simpson Children, Philip Vannatter, the Los Angeles police detective who served as a lead investigator in the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, has died in Southern California, according to his brother. He was 70.

Vannatter died on Friday at a Santa Clarita hospital of complications from cancer, his brother Joe Vannatter told The Associated Press on Sunday.

He was among the first detectives on the scene at former football star OJ Simpson’s mansion in June 1994, following the stabbing deaths of Simpson’s wife Nicole and her friend, Ron Goldman.

Vannatter testified at the murder trial, at which Simpson was acquitted.

In 1977, Vannatter conducted the investigation that led to the arrest of film director Roman Polanski on charges he drugged and had unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.

A 28-year veteran with the LAPD, where he spent most of his career as a homicide detective, Vannatter retired from the force in 1995 but continued on as a consultant for cold case murders.

‘He was a very devoted detective,’ Joe Vannatter said, adding his brother worked some 250 murder cases in his career.

‘The last time I saw him he had gotten a call from LAPD that they solved a homicide he was involved in 30 years ago. He took great pride in that.’

Vannatter arrested Polanski in the lobby of the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, kicking off an international legal saga that escalated when the director fled to France after he was convicted.

As he put the cuffs on, Vannatter said he found Polanski was clutching a Quaalude, the drug he was accused of giving his young victim.

Vannatter had planned to retire in late 1994 but instead spent more than a year in the middle of the Simpson trial.